Cardano PRIME Prepares DeFi RFPs Tied to Measurable Liquidity Growth

AlphaGrowth has outlined the first operational priorities for Cardano PRIME as the program moves from treasury approval into infrastructure assessment and project selection. During an episode of A Dose of Alpha, the team said it was preparing requests for proposals targeting gaps across Cardano’s DeFi stack.

The 12-month PRIME program received approval for a 120 million ADA treasury withdrawal. Its structure combines infrastructure analysis, milestone-based capital deployment and incentives intended to generate sustained liquidity and protocol activity.

Cardano DeFi Review Identifies Infrastructure Gaps

AlphaGrowth said its internal infrastructure review had expanded to approximately 77 pages, reflecting an assessment of the services available to Cardano builders.

One recurring issue is that projects have often been required to develop their own supporting infrastructure instead of relying on shared components. The team identified vaults, scoopers, multisignature systems, oracles, indexers, RPC providers and cross-chain services as areas where options remain fragmented.

AlphaGrowth is discussing common vault and scooper standards with several Cardano applications. It is also examining how programmable asset functionality under CIP-113 could be integrated across wallets, decentralized applications and other distribution channels.

The work is intended to give incoming projects a clearer infrastructure stack. Teams could begin with assessed Cardano components instead of separately selecting and integrating every oracle, bridge, multisignature provider and indexing service.

Portfolio tracking was identified as another gap, particularly for users and businesses that need to monitor assets across multiple wallets and applications without building internal systems.

The complete audit has not been published. AlphaGrowth said it was considering releasing a shorter public report while retaining more detailed material for a deeper technical review.

PRIME Pipeline Focuses on Capital Efficiency and Risk

The potential development pipeline covers three broad areas: capital efficiency, financial risk infrastructure and real-world assets.

AlphaGrowth is examining isolated money markets, additional collateralized debt position models and decentralized exchanges capable of using liquidity across multiple financial functions. One approach discussed would allow capital held in a liquidity pool to generate additional returns through an underlying lending market.

Insurance, reinsurance and fixed-rate lending were presented as complementary components. The team is exploring structures in which users could provide capital to insurance pools through different risk tranches, while fixed-rate products could give borrowers and liquidity providers more predictable financial terms.

AlphaGrowth connected these categories with requirements commonly expected by traditional financial participants, including defined rates, insurance protection, regulatory compatibility and sufficient market depth.

The pipeline also includes real-world assets and commodity-based opportunities involving areas such as gold, silver and oil. Individual projects, deployment schedules and committed liquidity amounts have not been announced.

A Cardano launchpad is also under consideration to support several financial products that could approach token generation events during the program. Some infrastructure requirements may be addressed through open RFPs, while others are already being discussed with potential providers.

RFPs Connect Funding With Measurable Cardano Activity

AlphaGrowth presented a working evaluation model under which one dollar of grants or incentives should be capable of attracting approximately 50 dollars in total value locked.

As an example, the team said it would consider proposals seeking around $100,000 if they could credibly bring between $5 million and $10 million in assets to Cardano. The ratio is an evaluation framework rather than a guaranteed outcome for every funded project.

TVL will not be the program’s only measurement. The approved PRIME structure also includes organic yield, protocol fees, active accounts and the persistence of liquidity after incentives expire.

AlphaGrowth said proposals should address a defined user or business market rather than depend on demand appearing after the product is built. Selected teams could receive business development support, partner introductions and help with Cardano integration alongside financial incentives.

More regular builder calls are also planned to improve coordination around shared standards. Material decisions remain subject to the PRIME Operating Group, while program capital continues to be administered through Intersect and released under the approved governance structure.

The RFP process will turn the infrastructure gaps identified during the review into specific requirements for potential recipients. Projects will be evaluated not only on what they propose to build, but on how much liquidity, usage and retained economic activity they can credibly bring to Cardano.